Lead Me
by Whinnie
Summary: "It never shines when it rains." — Of sacrifices and taking the blame and little signs of affection that she has never experienced before but already enjoys.


_**Lead Me  
by Whinnie**_

**D I S C L A I M E R  
**Nope, sorry, me has no ownage except over a copy of Bleach vol. 16. xDDD; Everything is by and © Tite Kubo. :D

**A U T H O R ' S - N O T E  
**Hah, I live! I live to write another IchiRuki fic! MWAHAHAHAH! xDDD

So... there seemed to be a lot of IchiRuki when Rukia was taken hostage in the second arc, so why don't we go down that road again...?

Rated T+. Yes, that's PLUS, because of... well, for references to violence and tons of swearing? (Gives innocent smile.)

I apologize for any OOC-ness (I just KNOW there HAS to be some in there!!) and choppiness; I mean, can you freakin' blame me, I snuck down to the computer at freakin' 3 in the morning and started this. P Like I said, CAN YOU BLAME ME?!

Also, does anyone notice that Ichigo never looks at Rukia during a really intense moment between them? Like, when he went to save Ganju and Hanataro from Byakuya on the bridge, and he saw her... he never really looked at her in the beginning, and when he did turn to face her, her head was down. Even when he said, "Rukia, I've come to save you," he was looking at Byakuya. \ Heh heh... xDDD; Interesting, ne?

BTW, if you don't remember, Ooshima is that guy from chap. 7 who claimed he would kick Ichigo's ass for looking like him.

And the ending? I'm sorry, I really didn't plan for it to be there, it just came unexpectedly when I was writing it. '-' You know, to give the story a proper ENDING and stuff... (Though I still think that, as an ending, it SUCKS...)

...  
...

This is for my best friend, because she was IchiHime before she read my other story, so now she's half IchiRuki. 8D

Happy belated b-day to our dearest hottie Ichigo Kurosaki; I hope you didn't forget that his b-day was on the 15th, eh? (Insert hearts here.)

Please enjoy, biatches. Flames are welcome. (Pulls out fire extinguisher.)

OMG, what a freakin' long author's note. (Dies.)

**F Y I. . .  
**_baka_ – idiot (haha, you'd have to be a total _baka_ to not know this one! P)  
_gigai _– (oh my god...) a physical (human) body used by shinigami in emergency situations  
_kidô_ – a soul reaper's magical powers  
_shinigami – _soul reaper (please not with the DEATH GOD thing from Death Note again... man you must be new to Bleach if you don't know this one '-')

* * *

_It was early on in the morning, when they were heading towards school._

"_Ichigo..."_

"_...Yeah?"_

"_...What's that little kid doing over there?"_

"_What—?"_

"_I mean... he's beside this older girl, and they're..." A pause. "...uh..."_

"_Holding hands."_

"_Oh!" Rukia's eyes, which had been confused before, now lit up with recognition before becoming a bit dull. "Why?"_

"_Whaddya mean why, don't people hold hands in Soul Soc—"_

"_No." She blinked at him. "So, why do people do it? It seems like this holding hand thing is popular or something... some kids at school, and in the mall..."_

_Ichigo paused, thoughtful for a moment. "Well..." he muttered, then finally continued, "When people hold hands with little kids, it's so they won't get lost or when they're crossing the street or something. And girls do that too, sometimes, schoolgirls, because..." He paused again, confused with the reason, because he had never understood schoolgirls, much less the ones in his class!_

_Finally, he went on, "And sometimes girls and boys hold hands with each other, too, because they're going out or they like each other. That's all there is to it." He shrugged._

"_I see..." Rukia muttered, deep in thought. She stopped behind Ichigo at the edge of the street, mulling the whole concept over in her mind, still a bit confused._

"_Hey, Ichigo..."_

"_...What now?"_

"_...Can I try it?" Rukia asked innocently, her voice almost as soft as a whisper._

_Ichigo paused, but only for a split second. "Sure, why not," he replied carelessly, and extended his hand out to her. Shyly (because; _"what if I do it _wrong_?" she thought) _and slowly, she placed her small hand into his large one and wrapped her fingers around his. "Yeah, that's it," he told her. "You've done it;" and she beamed._

"_Just... make sure no one from school sees us," Ichigo muttered, turning a light shade of red, and Rukia giggled. _"I like this holding hand thing,"_ she quietly mused to herself, smiling._ "It feels... nice. It feels... _right_, I guess."

_Slowly, they crossed the street, with Ichigo leading the way, and Rukia trailing behind him, her fingers intertwined with his._

* * *

It was late in the afternoon, and Ichigo was walking home, by himself.

"Hey! You're Kurosaki, right?" asked a gruff voice.

Ichigo turned around to see a rough-looking teen from his class. "Yeah, so?" the shinigami responded.

"Uh..." The gangster paused, somewhat at a loss for words. "Could ya please come with me? Now?"

Ichigo snickered. For a gangster, that sounded pretty pathetic. "All right," Ichigo muttered. "I'll kick their asses anyway."

The gangster looked relieved that he didn't need to use force. "This way, then," he gruffly said, leading Ichigo through an alley. "Boss doesn't like to be kept waiting."

"Who's the asshole who's in charge of you, anyway?" Ichigo asked, bored all ready.

"Sorry, can't say." The gangster shook his head. "Boss requested that you see for yourself when we get there."

Ichigo shook his head. "You guys are sick," he grumbled.

A few minutes later, the gangster announced, "We're here." He turned the corner and motioned for Ichigo to keep going. "Sorry, but I've gotta stay here and guard this side," he said. "Good luck."

Ichigo smirked. "You seem a bit different from the rest of those dumbasses," he commented. "Thanks, but I don't think I'll be needing it." With a wave, he continued down the alley.

The sun was directly overhead, so the alley wasn't dark at all. Ichigo could see them, a row of gangsters, at the end, and a few yards behind them was a brick wall. "It's a dead end alley," he realized, speaking the fact aloud.

"Hey, boss, he showed!" one of the gangsters in the middle announced, and they all parted to let him pass. Ichigo looked at them, grumbling about how stupid gangs were and how they were all cowards, when suddenly, he stopped.

"Hey, Kurosaki!" It was Ooshima, and he was grinning menacingly. "What's up, I haven't seen you in a long time, eh?"

Ichigo groaned. "Not this bastard again," he grumbled loudly, annoyed, and a few of the other gangsters laughed.

"SHUT IT!" Ooshima angrily roared at his gang. Turning back to Ichigo, he threatened, "Kurosaki, if you want her to live, you might want to watch your mouth!"

"...Eh?" Ichigo blinked, his smirk wavering a bit. _"No way,"_ he thought, trying to convince himself. _"There's no way they would stoop that low..."_

Ooshima moved out of the way, and suddenly, in Ichigo's line of sight, was Rukia.

"You bastards!" he angrily roared. She was still in her school uniform, but she was tied to a chair, both her legs and feet, and she was gagged. Her eyes were wide, and she was staring at him intently (_"and a bit scared,"_ he realized). He ran towards her, trying to reach her, but he was restrained by a few of the gangsters.

"Wow," Ooshima commented, "maybe the rumours of you and her going out _aren't_ false, after all..."

"You bastards!" Ichigo continued to yell. "I swear, if you hurt even a hair on her head, I'm gonna—"

"Don't worry." Ooshima shrugged, glancing back at Rukia. "We didn't harm her or anything, just brought her here and tied her up. No matter what we do, Kurosaki, we don't mess around with women."

"Then let her _go_, goddamnit! She's got _nothing_ to do with this!"

"Sorry, Kurosaki. Can't do that." Ooshima glanced at his men, and they let go of Ichigo, allowing him to drop to the ground.

"So, you want a fight, don't you?" Ichigo spat at him, looking up. "And you brought _her_—" he nodded at Rukia "—here to use her as a lure."

"Not exactly," Ooshima replied. "Actually, all we want is for you to sit there and be used as our punching bag. That's all." Ooshima crouched down in front of Ichigo. "And if you don't comply, well, we'll just kill the girl."

"What the hell?! You just said you weren't going to hurt her!" Ichigo shouted.

"Like I said, we don't mess around with women. But if we have to, we do it quickly and painlessly." He nodded at a gangster standing beside Rukia, and the man pulled out a gun, and aimed it at her head. "It's your choice, Kurosaki."

"I'll do whatever the hell you want me to! Just leave her alone!"

Rukia stared at Ichigo, her eyes wider than before, and shook her head slowly.

"That's better." Ooshima smirked, standing up. "It's so much better when you co-operate, Kurosaki." He kicked at Ichigo in the stomach, and the rest of them joined in.

Rukia could only watch in horror.

* * *

An hour passed by.

Ooshima and his men had finally gotten tired of beating Ichigo around and were beginning to leave. Rukia squirmed in her seat until someone untied her hands and let her do the rest. Hurriedly, hastily, she ripped the tape off her mouth and fumbled with the rope around her legs, finally freeing herself after what felt like an eternity.

"Ichigo!" she yelled, immediately going to his side.

Said shinigami lay, bruised and a bit bloody, on the ground; his eyes were closed and he was breathing heavily. "Hey," he told her, exhaling deeply, reaching up to touch the bleeding wound on his forehead.

"You **BAKA!**" Rukia angrily yelled, slowly dropping to the ground beside him. "You... you..." She struggled with words. "How **could** you?!" she finally yelled at him.

He opened his eyes slowly to look at her. "You're talking... nonsense... again," he said, every word taking a large effort to say.

"It makes perfect sense to me!" she shouted, pulling his head onto her lap. Although her expression showed that she was furious, her eyes were full of sadness, and she handled him gently, as if he were fragile glass. "You dumbass! You... you should've run away! Why did you listen to them?!"

"You're right, maybe I shouldn't have," Ichigo responded sarcastically, "and then you'd still be stuck in that chair over there. There is **no way in hell** I would've let them do anything to you! Your opinions are being rejected **again**!"

"I'm getting sick of you saying that!" Rukia snapped, but her expression softened and she moved her hands over Ichigo's chest, beginning to use her kidô to slowly heal him. Ichigo shifted his gaze away from her, grumbling to himself about how hard his ass had gotten whooped. Rukia shuddered suddenly, her hands trembled, and tears began to well up in her eyes.

"Ichigo... you bastard..." she whispered, shutting her eyes tightly, trying to stop her tears. Ichigo stopped muttering and turned to look at her with a surprised look. "I'm sorry..." she went on quietly. "It's my fault you're like this now... you should've let them kill me... It's because I listened to them, and now you're paying for my mistakes..."

Ichigo glanced away. Rukia _was_ right, although he'd never admit that to her, but... "Don't say that," he told her. "I wasn't paying for anything, and I didn't save you in Soul Society just to have you murdered here. So stop freakin' _blaming yourself_, Rukia. It's getting annoying," he lightly added, hoping that she would fire back a retort as usual.

She opened her eyes (he'd always thought that she had pretty eyes) and a tear slid down her cheek. "But then you wouldn't have gotten _hurt_!" she cried, unable to stop herself. "And it... it hurt me as much as it hurt you! I had to _watch _you! I tried to close my eyes, but I could still hear you, and I couldn't turn away... Oh, Ichigo..." Another tear came down.

"And this... my body is just a gigai. I wouldn't have been harmed at all. But you—" More tears came, and she hurriedly wiped them away. "Ichigo..." She couldn't stop herself any longer, and she bowed her head down so he couldn't see her eyes, couldn't see her cry.

Ichigo sighed. "Rukia..." he began, "it's okay; I'm not... sorry, and I don't blame you. I got to... protect you, even though I got bashed up pretty bad, but still... as long as you end up all right in the end, then I'm totally fine." He gave a smile – a sincere one – at her.

A few minutes passed in silence. Ichigo closed his eyes, exhausted, and felt small drops hit his neck. At first, he thought it was Rukia's tears, but then he heard her whisper, "It's raining. No... it's _drizzling_."

Ichigo slowly looked up. "But the sun's still shining," he managed to point out, coughing up blood. Slowly, gently, Rukia turned him onto his stomach, and more red liquid came out. She gave a small sigh.

"How ironic," she whispered. In a louder, clearer tone, she told Ichigo, "But I have a feeling... a feeling that you'll get better soon."

"Yeah," Ichigo coughed. "It... never shines... when it rains."

The green glow emitting from Rukia's hands slowly vanished. Her eyes widened. "I...I'm sorry, Ichigo," she mumbled. "I... my energy is drained. I could only heal your arm and your leg. I'm sorry, I'm so weak..." Heartbroken and crestfallen, she whispered, "I'm always so weak. I can never help you... Ichigo..."

"S-stop. Don... don't cry," Ichigo said, reaching for her hand. Gently, he grabbed it, reminding her of what had happened that morning. "I... I feel a bit better now," he slowly told her, stroking her palm. "I think... we can go home. I... owe you for helping me... anyway..." He wiped some blood away from his mouth. Slowly, with Rukia's help, he pushed himself up into a sitting position, and she brushed away her tears. She squeezed his hand softly, and he stroked her cheek, wiping away the rest of her tears.

Rukia stood up suddenly, smirking, a bit back to her old self. "Come on, hurry up," she told him, extending her hand out to him. Slowly, he took it, wrapping his fingers around her small ones as she pulled him up.

But he never pulled away from her. He never loosened his grip, only made it firmer.

"Ichigo," Rukia confided quietly, "I sort of... like this thing. The holding hands, I mean." A light pink tinted her cheeks, and she looked away from him. "But if you don't like it, then... you don't have to do it just because you feel that you're indebted to me..."

"No," Ichigo replied softly. "I... like it too, I guess."

They walked, his arm around her neck so he could lean on her, her hand still holding onto his. Rukia recalled how it had all begun that morning, how the concept of holding hands had been instructed to her. And then she realized something.

"Ichigo... You and me... are holding hands... does that mean we like each other?"

Ichigo stopped abruptly, pulling Rukia to a halt. She turned around, a bit fearful, hoping she hadn't said something that would make him feel bad.

"...I dunno," he finally said after a long, silent pause. "What do you think?" he asked her casually, looking down at her, trying his hardest to not blush.

Rukia averted her eyes. "I..." She stopped. "Ichigo, I think... no..." She closed her eyes. "I don't like you," she whispered, finally looking up into his amber orbs. "I think I love you."

He squeezed her hand tighter and slowly leaned down to kiss her cheek, and as Rukia froze, she realized that he loved her too; that he loved her so much.

And, as they reached the edge of the street, they crossed, with Rukia leading the way, and Ichigo beside her.


End file.
